HIST 261 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Nomadic Pastoralism, Sui Dynasty, Greco-Persian Wars
Disintegration & Reunification
• Famine going on (issue for leadership because it could be seen as a sign from
the gods that the ruler no longer has the mandate of heaven)
• Rebellion
• Han fell due to Yellow Turban Revolt in 184 CE
o Peasants refuse to pay taxes, provide their labor, and serve in the
military
o Significantly destabilizes
• Three states period 220-589 CE
o Culturally people are still unified; shared similarities
• Reunification under the Sui Dynasty 589-618 CE
o Grand Canal- connects two main rivers in China, 11,000 miles long;
facilitates trade
o Military strength, centralized government
• Tang Dynasty 618-907 CE
o New Imperial Academy
o Printing block- world’s first; associated with the spread of Buddhism
o Porcelain
o World’s first pharmacy- use and distribution of medicine
o Empress Wu: rules during this period
▪ )nitially a concubine, framed emperor’s favorite women, he has
a stroke and she is the favorite, starts to make political
decisions while he is sick
▪ She allegedly does things to ensure that she comes to power
and not his sons
▪ Only woman who rules in Chinese history
o Extend their influence; cultural power as well
• First civilizations of the Indus Valley 2500 BCE
• Rivers drying up, changing course, and possible invasions, etc. possible cause
for absence of people from the Indus Valley
• Arrival of the Aryans, reach the Indus Valley by 1000 BCE (probably came
form eastern Europe and western Asia)
• Aryans are a language group (all speak the same type of language)
• Nomadic pastoralists goats, horses, etc.; don’t really have a large
centralized state
• They start to incorporate types of farming as they settle with the different
type of people
• They bring religion ideas; Hinduism is the combination of the Aryan and
Agrarian religions
• Oral tradition (stories that have been passed down through generations; oral
memory of a community; usually around people who didn’t develop a strong
sense of writing) not oral history (Herodotus and Persian Wars)
o Chronicles of Aryan Immigration
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